Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, stakeholder engagement is anticipated to continue into late spring of 2023. Public engagement and section 35 consultation with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations is anticipated to occur until the late spring of 2023. The public land use regulations will establish accessible forms of security for disposition of public lands. Mr. Speaker, we are working on trying to get this done by the end of this sitting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Last year, NTHSSA's one-year deficit hit a record high of $33 million and yesterday the Minister confirmed that this year's deficit would be in the same ballpark. That would push our accumulated deficit over $200 million. The Minister also stated that the health sustainability office is dealing with the problem but that doesn't seem to be producing any results. So what are the challenges that the sustainability office is having to reduce this deficit, Mr. Speaker?

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Member for the question. The office is now fully staffed. For a while there was an issue with staffing in the office so that they could do their work but that is not an issue at this point.

The basic issue is that it's like playing whack-a-mole in the Department of Health and Social Services. When we finish paying for one thing, another thing needs funding. And this has really become more acute in the time that I've been Minister of Health and Social Services. There are more calls for more services to be covered by our health system than ever before without any commensurate means of looking at ways to increase revenue, decrease non-core services, or in other ways to try and bring our finances into alignment. So the result is that we -- that the NTHSSA was not properly funded when it was created. It's still not properly funded. And the situation that we find ourselves in is that we run a deficit annually. And as the Member knows, the last deficit was $33 million. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yeah, so the Minister -- will the Minister commit to public reporting in the next NTHSSA annual report on what results the sustainability office achieves, because I know with what she's saying that they're fully staffed now, because that would have been my second question if they have enough resources but, can we know what their achievements are so that we -- you know, so if they're -- the work that they're doing is actually producing end results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday during the mains examination of the department, I committed to a confidential briefing to the committee on accountability and oversight of the NTHSSA finances, what savings have been realized, what pressures are driving costs up, and so I'm going to repeat that here again today. At a very high level, it can be included in the annual report. But my caution about that is that the annual report won't be out until the fall, and it won't cover anything that happens after the end of this month. So the timeliness of that document is not great. Thank you.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if the Minister won't be able to commit to the -- because of the timing, then can the Minister commit to some type of public -- I mean, different departments have different ways to show this publicly. Maybe, like, my colleague always asks for it online so we could see how they're -- it's like the child and family services, you could check to see how you're doing and what things are being done. So will the Minister commit to something like that so the public knows that you're doing the work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure what exactly is possible. But I believe that it's important to provide accountability to the public for both our spending and our debts. And so I will work with the department to develop some kind of public reporting. I can't say right now whether that will be online or not. But I will work towards public accountability on this public reporting. Thank you.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Time supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Lesa Semmler Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that, to the Minister. Is the Minister confident that the NTHSSA deficit will be less than $30 million next year? Is there a target as to what they're hoping to be under or -- I guess that's my final question, because I'm not sure much more I can ask on this topic.Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Yes, thank you. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a firm idea of what the deficit will be. I know that we're paying more for travel; we're paying more for freight; we're paying more for drugs; we're paying more for staff, especially because we have so much temporary staff and they are expensive to acquire and work here. So I am very concerned about all those things that are driving costs up. And on the other side, there is uncertainty about the revenue that we're going to get from Canada through the CHT and the tailored bilaterals, whether they're going to renew the Territorial Health Investment Fund. So there are just so many unknowns at this point that all I can say is I will buy the Member lunch if we don't have a deficit. Thank you.

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, it's kind of been a long march to one day the GNWT would have a plan to address homelessness. You kind of think it would be something we'd have in the first place, but I'm hoping that the Premier could give us some good news and update the House on when the strategy to address homelessness will be complete? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.